444 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



wood and climbing aboard again. What they were 

 doing there I do not know, but from the abundance 

 of Shad-flies, I supposed they were sharing these 

 dainties with the trout. Once while in company 

 with my camp mate, Mr. Frederick Vreeland, on 

 the shores of McDonald River, we came upon a 

 large gray boulder. It had a lumpy appearance 

 like one of those conglomerate rocks known to the 

 boys as 



PUDDING STONES. 



As we approached the object, a strange thing hap- 

 pened. It apparently began to fall to pieces before 

 our eyes. Mr. Vreeland is a celebrated botanist 

 and both of us have traveled and used our eyes 

 while doing so, but neither of us are geologists. 

 Nevertheless, we were both well acquainted with 

 the ordinary characteristics of stones, and knew 

 that it could not be the stone itself that was 

 crumbling before our eyes. Closer inspection told 

 us that this large stone had been completely 



COVERED WITH YOUNG ROCKY MOUNTAIN TOADS, 



which produced the odd effect by hopping away as 

 we approached. We sat down and waited a con- 

 siderable time in hopes the toads would return to 

 their perch, so that we might photograph the stone 

 with them on it, but they did not seem to trust us 

 and at length we continued our way in the trail. 

 Another peculiarity about these big toads I no- 



